The Loss Of Identity-a Research On Khalid Hosseini's Novels

"identity" is a very important issue in the field of post-colonialism. The deepening of globalization has brought greater cultural exchange between different areas as well as some conflicts and resistance. Based on various reasons, many chose to live abroad and the number of expatriates continues to grow rapidly. Hence, it is becoming more urgent and significant to study "identity" issue than ever.Khalid Hosseini, who is an American writer born in Afghanistan, has already published three critically acclaimed international bestseller novels so far. He and his novels are the archetypical representations of expatriate literature, thus this thesis is going to research the issue of the loss of identity by focusing on Hosseini and his three novels, in combination with post-colonial theories of Esward W. Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri C, Spivak and feminism theories of Simone de Beauvoir, etc. The situation of society, politics, religion, and culture in Afghanistan will also be considered in the research.Concretely speaking, this thesis will analyze the issue of "identity" from three perspectives:The loss of Hosseini's identity and its influence on his novel creation; The loss of characters' identity in his novels, namely, the lack of self-identity, the lack of cultural identity, and the lack of female identity; The causes of the loss of their identity. These factors, such as the marginalization and otherization of Afghanistan, the impact of western culture, female otherization in the patriarchy society and so on, will be taken into consideration to reveal the causes.;The reconstruction of identity. In this part, we will borrow some theories from Homi Bhabha, such as "Third Space"and "Hybrid identity", to discuss the reconstruction of identity. That is to say, we are going to seek a new meaningful identity for expatriates which portrays them in a more positive light.Based on the research of Hosseini and his novels, not only can we better understand his cultural perspective and gain insight into his thinking behind his works, but also we can have a more in-depth understanding and appreciation for expatriate literature. Particularly by deepening our understanding on the issue of the loss of identity, this thesis will seek a possibility to resolve expariates' awkward identity issue and explore a new perspective on cultural hybridization.